Surgical dressing



J. BAUMWELL 2,052,072

SURGICAL DRESS ING Aug. 25, 1936.

Filed Aug. l0, 1954 Patented Aug. 25, 1936 eArsr orties 2,052,072 SURGICAL DRESSING VJoseph Baumwell, Chicago, Ill., assignor to l Howard D. Medbery, Oak Park, Ill.

Application August 10, 1934, Serial No. 739,259

2 Claims.

My present invention relates to the provision of an improved, handy surgical dressing for application-to scratches, Wounds, abrasions, burns, or the like.

I am aware that corn plasters and dressings have heretofore been provided, and are obtain'- able on the market, comprising longitudinally elongated strips 4of adhesive tape across a portion of which is disposed a fold of gauze, either medicated or merely sterilized, and that corn plasters have also heretofore been provided, and may be purchased, in which perforated disks of felt, or the like, are associated with longitudinally elongated pieces of adhesive tape.

The heretofore seemingly universal practice of elongating the piece of adhesive tape of such structures permitted the elongated ends of the tape to be wrapped around the member upon which the dressing'is applied for the purpose of more effectively securing the dressing in place.

In certain instances the present style of dressing with elongated adhesive tapes functions precisely as intended,gbut there are many instances in which the elongated tape in use has constricted the part to which it was applied, thereby at least partially interrupting the circulation. Also, if the elongated ends are extended beyond joints where bends take place, the dressing is necessarily wrinkled by each movement of the joint. Moreover, with the present dressing where there is any exudation from the wound which dries upon the dressing the scab is invariably removed when the dressing is removed, which again opens up the Wound.

I have for my objects in providing the present dressing (l) to provide a dressing which will be secured in desired position on all of its e-dges, (2) to provide a dressing which may be removed without disturbing such scab as'may have formed on the wound, and (3) to provide a dressing which, while permitting abundant ventilation, will not be liable t-o be distorted either in its application to the wound or while it is in place thereon.

I have attained the foregoing objects by means of the structure shown in the accompanying drawing, in which- Y Fig. l is a top plan of a surgical dressing embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section of the dressing shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective showing the dressing with the crinoline protective layers slightly separated.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal central section similar (Cl. 12S-268) to that shown in Fig. 2 in which the layers of the dressing are separated at one edge.

VSimilar. reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the respective views.

The major purpose of a surgical dressing is to protect the area to which it is applied, and this major purpose may be supplemented, at times with advantage, by suitably medicating the material of which the dressing is made, but protection is the main object of the dressing, and to secure an abundance of dependable protection I prefer to make the outer adhesive layer 5 of the dressing elliptical or oval with the shorter meridian of the ellipse of a suicient extent to leave margins 5a of adhesive material extending beyond the dressing element 6 to secure dependable adhesion entirely around the dressing element. The outer surface of the adhesive element 5 may be given any desired color to render it less obvious, if desired.

I have found through experience that surgical dressings are more'liable to distortion across their lesser meridian and for that reason the ventilating apertures 5b in the adhesive strip are arranged to leave a continuous Strip 5c extending along the lesser diameter of the dressing.

The dressing element proper 5 consists of sterilized dressing gauze, either medicated or unmedicated as may be desired, of a number of readily detachable layers, 6a, 6b, 6c, etc. The sheets of gauze are piled in the requisite number of layers, preferably ve or six, and then cut out with a die. The cutting out ofthe pads with a die, as describe-d, serves to slightly inter-mesh the cut libres of the respective layers so that the layers will not come apart of themselves but may be readily separated without the exertion of appreciable force.

One side of the dressing element 6 is applied to the adhesive side of the outer adhesive layer 5 over the Ventilating apertures 5b and the adhesive serves to hold the element B in place, the action of the adhesive rarely extending through the next adjacent layer and never beyond the second layer. Y

The exudation from a broken skin is of a uniformly adhesive nature, particularly when it dries,

vbut if the wound is properly cleansed before the dressing is applied, the eXudation is absorbed by the layers of the dressing nearest to it without reaching the first or second layer nearest the adhesive covering so that when the adhesive covering is removed the layers of dressing which adhere to the wound are not detached with the detachment of the adhesive covering and may afterwards be more gently removed by the application of warm Water.

The application of medication to the dressing, instead of to the Wound, is of very dubious effectiveness in the majority of cases, and when the medicament is applied to the Wound instead of the dressing, it is obvious that my dressing, consisting of a number of easily detachable layers, Will form much better protection both to the wound and to the dressing than can be obtained with a dressing material which is itself medicated.

To prevent the drying of the adhesive before the use of the dressing I employ layers of crinoline, as is the general practice, but in order to more readily detach the crinoline from the adhesive I prefer to make the crinoline in two overlapping pieces, 1 and 8. The pieces of crinoline, of course, may be made of unequal lengths so long as they remain over-lapping, and, in fact, one of the pieces of crinoline may be made continuous, if desired, and the other piece may be inserted under one end of the dressing. This arrangement permits the covering crinoline to be separated where they are over-lapped and each piece be readily removed from the adhesive without touching the adhesive or the dressing material proper.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A surgical dressing comprising a layer of material provided with a semi-solid adhesive upon one side thereof, and a dressing element of a size and shape to secure a serviceable area of adhesive extending upon all sides thereof, said dressing element consisting of a plurality of layers of Woven gauze, said respective layers being attached to each other only at their edges and by the intermeshing of the fibres at the ends of the threads of which said gauze is formed.

2. A surgical dressing element consisting of a plurality of layers of woven gauze, said respective layers being attached to each other only at their edges by the inter-meshing of the fibres at 20 the ends of the threads of which the woven gauze is formed.

JOSEPH BAUMWELL. 

